FLOODLINE

Funny, moving and utterly compelling, FLOODLINE tells of the unexpected salvation that can be found at the edge of a disaster.

Most families take trips to Disney World or to visit family, but Mickey Brown (a sexy, feisty, dynamic host of a Christian shopping channel) and her sons, Talent and Mustard, are on a mission of mercy. Their destination is the city of Horneville, which was recently destroyed by a flood on the eve of Hornefest, an extravagant gay Mardi Gras festival. The journey is more than a flood clean?up for Mickey - she has dreams of saving the city from damnation. She's also there to lay her past to rest after her husband committed suicide at the same festival. Meanwhile, in the Horneville City Hospital, Gina, a nurse, finds herself making more and more extreme decisions in the chaotic aftermath of the storm. The arrival of this little troupe helps Gina find hope and salvation in the most unlikely places. FLOODLINE is a compelling and darkly funny novel, at once biting and compassionate. Kathryn Heyman reveals a deep sympathy for her characters whose delusions protect them against a tragedy they feel powerless to change. Kathryn Heyman is the author of four novels, including The Breaking (long-listed for the Orange Prize, and shortlisted for the Scottish Writer of the Year Award), The Accomplice, and Catpain Starlight's Apprentice, published internationally. Heyman has won an Arts Council of England Writers Award, the Wingate, and the Southern Arts Awards, and been nominated for the Orange Prize, the Scottish Writer of the Year award, and the West Australian Premier's Book Awards. kathryn is also the Director of the Faber Academy, a creative writing school which originated at Faber & Faber and now alsow operates at Allen & Unwin in Australia.